katieluvs2read's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Moderate: Child death, Death, Animal death, and Death of parent
Minor: Blood, Violence, Gaslighting, and Toxic relationship
saintyeehaw's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Colonisation, Death, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Toxic relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Classism, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Sexism, Violence, and Vomit
weminence's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Please if you are going to read this book check trigger warnings.
Spoiler
While, I loved the world, I didn't like the accuracy to the period. Not the Christianity coming in and ruining everything for everyone; that felt par for the course, but Pyotr, Dunya, or Anna hitting Vasya I hated. I understand again that that is time accurate but as a fiction writer you get to pick which accuracies to portray. I also understand that Pyotr and Dunya were only trying to protect Vasya and make her act "right" but even if their motives are pure, it ultimately made the story hard to enjoy. Also, treating Vasya like an adult when she is fourteen is gross. Again, accurate for the time, gross for a book released in 2017. Yes, that one dude who briefly appears in the story is treated like a creep but not really because he's twenty-four and she's fourteen. Konstantin should've died at the end too for all his shitty behavior towards Vasya, but that is purely a personal opinion. Morozko, who I think is supposed to be Vasya's main love interest, is the creepiest in this regard but for some reason he is the nicest person to Vasya? Yeah, he gives her frost burn at one point, he still is some how the nicest person to this girl. (Besides her siblings to be fair) The scenes in the cabin were my favorite but they set up a relationship that just gets weirder the more you think of it. I just wish there was more care put into these aspects of the book. Especially considering more than once Morozko refers to Vasya as 'child'.I am not saying this as someone who hates this book, in fact I bought into the propaganda and Morozko is my favorite but that's not to say that he should be, he's just some how the nicest adult in Vasya's life despite being the one with the most concerning age gape between them.
Graphic: Rape, Religious bigotry, Toxic relationship, Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, Death, Forced institutionalization, Grief, and Child abuse
reddeddy's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Confinement, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Death of parent, Violence, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, Classism, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Misogyny
Moderate: Abandonment, Grief, Mental illness, Sexual content, Child abuse, Gore, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Blood, and Animal death
Minor: Body horror, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Medical content, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Vomit, Pedophilia, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Body shaming
theespressoedition's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
There's a part of me that wonders if I would have enjoyed it more in a physical format. I listened to the audiobook and kept getting lost with the truly expansive list of characters (some of which had very similar-sounding names) and the accents. I think if I had just been visually reading, I would have been able to follow everything a bit more and would've found myself getting sucked into the story. Instead, I just kept wondering when it would end.
This is a slow book. And I mean it's molasses. There are so many tiny details and simultaneous plots happening and if you aren't paying close attention, you're going to miss it all. It would take ages for certain things to be explained and it drained my energy really quickly.
My hope is to read the remaining books in a physical format to see if that changes my opinion. I really hope that it does because I want to like these so badly!
Graphic: Child abuse, Murder, Religious bigotry, Torture, and Toxic relationship